The tickets used at ski areas to identify skiers (and in other similar applications) have been fastened to the skier's clothing by means of a steel wire which had a tag stapled to it. The purpose of the wicket is to provide a hanger which can be put through a portion of the skier's clothing, such as belt loop, button hole or zipper pull. The tag is fastened over the wicket to make a tamper detectible, non-switchable seal so that the ticket cannot be reused by taking it from the place of attachment on the original user and attaching it to another person's clothing.
However, the above-described wickets were not entirely satisfactory because they presented the danger of injury in case of a fall during which the sharp edges of the wicket could severely injure the skier. This led to the use of a pipe cleaner or fiber covered wire. More recently, plastic wickets have been introduced such as those shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,933,560.
In my application, Ser. No. 771,908, filed Feb. 25, 1977, I have disclosed a self-wicketing ticket including a pressure sensitive tag provided with a wicket forming means provided by a strip portion of the same material as the tag. The tag of the present invention is an improvement over this tag in that it obviates the problem of providing a tamperproof ticket that is tamper detectible and cannot be transferred from person to person. In order to prevent re-use of a ticket of the indicated type, it is desirable to have a strong wicket and a somewhat weaker ticket. If the ticket is too strong, it can be pulled apart and put back together again without being torn so that this maneuver is not detectible and the ticket can be transferred from person to person.
The ticket construction of the present invention prevents such re-use by making the ticket portion of the tag of material such that, once applied, it would tear if it were taken apart, and, at the same time, by providing a wicket portion which is very strong. This is achieved by providing a reinforcing strip on the strip portion of the tag that forms the wicket means.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is disclosed a novel method for making the ticket. To this end, the ticket is formed in a strip having a plurality of tickets in end-to-end relation by the steps of forming a pair of spaced apart parallel slits extending longitudinally and centrally of a strip of tag forming material having pressure sensitive adhesive on one side and a removable backing material adhered to the pressure sensitive adhesive, applying a strip of tape of reinforcing material in the area between the parallel slits and cutting said strip along a line extending longitudinally between said parallel slits, said cut extending through said reinforcing material, said tag forming material and said backing so as to form two strips of tickets in end-to-end relation.
The tickets of the present invention are superior to the prior art comparable tickets in that they are less expensive to manufacture, and are easy to attach onto a person's clothing in a minimum of time.